I must be really out of touch. A recent letter home from our local comp is asking for parent's permission for their children to purchase alcohol on an upcoming trip to Germany Apparently it's legal over there over the age of 16 (it's a year 13 trip) but surely the teachers can find amusing entertainment for the students for the 3 days that doesn't require drinking? Maybe I'm really out of touch but not all children want to drink alcohol but may find it embarrassing if their peers are buying and consuming each evening on a school trip. Is this the times we live in now? Not sure I'd want my 18 year old daughter sharing a glass of wine with her teacher after a long day (and a long way away from me)

I think the letter is more to a. Warn parents that if their kids are inclined to drink alcohol it is easier and legal in Germany, b. The teachers probably need a bit of a bartering tool to keep the kids in one place of an evening with one of them close by and if they have your permission to let them buy a drink in front of the teachers it helps stop them going off and doing it in little secret groups anyway.They are not asking your permission to let your child get trollied, a 17/18 year old sharing a drink with a teacher of an evening is actually a bit like a right of passage on school trips in upper sixth..or year 13 as it is now. Should your dd dislike drinking of alcohol they will need to learn the life skill of acceptance of this trait in others and to do so under the supervision of teachers seems quite mellow compared to a student union bar or student party.

At that age many do drink and this may also be a way of actually controlling things so that it's not done behind teachers backs (as we did on my 6th firm Geog field trip). Better to be upfront than not.

If she's 18 she's legally an adult and I'm surprised they need to even ask parents permission (maybe its different rules for school trips though).

Is she planning to go away to university later this year? If so she may want to get used to the idea that some of her peers may be inclined to buy and consume the odd tipple or ten. A glass of wine with a responsible teacher sounds like quite a gentle and civilized introduction to alcohol compared with what (little) I can remember of Freshers Week!

I seem to remember a ski trip in lower sixth where we were able to have a glass of wine with a evening meal in the hotel if parents consented. I certainly remember a certain amount of alcohol was consumed at my 18th birthday party but we were all ok.

I went on a school trip to Russia in the lower sixth (aged 16) and we all drank openly and sensibly in front of the teachers (no parental permission requested.)The boys from Ipswich Grammar, who weren't allowed to drink, leave the group, fraternise with the fast London girls (us) or do anything that wasn't on the parent approved itinerary all ran riot, getting plastered, going AWOL, and making deals with dodgy currency traders.Vivid memory of one of the teachers from Ipswich bursting into my bedroom in his dressing gown hunting for his errant boys ...

Thanks to all for being so level headed. I didn't have a problem with 18 year olds drinking I just thought it was a shame that the school felt they couldn't be without alcohol for the 3 days. I realise some/most will go off and do things they shouldn't but it was the assumption that the students would all want to sit in a restaurant/bar each evening drinking alcohol. Surely there's alcohol free entertainment available to fill 3 evenings? Or even have an evening meal without alcohol - it's not obligatory just because you're eating surely.

Vivid memory of one of the teachers from Ipswich bursting into my bedroom in his dressing gown hunting for his errant boys ...

In Iceland a year or two ago we were shocked by the predatory antics of some girls from one of the expensive schools often mentioned in the independent section on here (I know because I asked them and threatened to contact their school if they didn't calm down) charging round the corridors of the hotel we were in trying to find some boys from another school who seemed quite horrified and were trying to go to bed (unmolested!). No alcohol was involved, this being Iceland where even thinking about drinking is prohibitively expensive, and the hot-blooded young ladies (in every sense- they were somewhat underdressed for the Icelandic weather) were underage.

When I was in the sixth form a ski trip went forth with young male teachers and sixth formers and the scandal upon their return kept us all in gossip for the rest of the year.

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